New Ways to Monetize a Blog

For a large site aimed at small business owners, I am looking for new ideas for making money from a blog. What are some ways you are bringing in revenue through a blog? Are there any programs you consider worthwhile to help you achieve your revenue goals?

1. Increasingly, blogs are using “sponsored content”—posts written in the editorial voice of the blog, but paid for by an advertiser (and flagged as such)—to raise revenue. This way, the content is folded into the flow of the blog—even appearing in its RSS feed—rather than floating on the side of the site. Sponsored content is akin to an advertorial, only better, since it appears to be native to the given publication.

Mashable, Gawker Media, and BuzzFeed have been blazing new trails here, while Quartz, the new business publication from the Atlantic, has promised to bake sponsored content into its “foundation.”

2. Another increasingly popular way to monetize your blog is to syndicate it. Find like-minded publications that don’t get as much traffic as yours, but are looking to, and offer them the opportunity to reprint your posts. You can charge $X for, say, up to five posts per month.

Addendum (10/10/2012): Success!